KIRK, John Foster, author, born in Frederic-ton, New Brunswick, 22 March, 1824. His parents removed shortly afterward to Halifax, and he was educated by a private tutor. In 1842 he left Halifax for Quebec, and after several months came to the United States and settled in Boston. From 1847 till 1859 he was secretary and assistant to William It. Prescott, and aided in preparing all that historian's later works. In 1850 he accompanied Mr. Prescott to Europe. Mr. Kirk contributed through all these years and up to 1870 to the "North American Review," the "Atlantic Monthly," and other periodicals. In that year he removed to Philadelphia, where he edited "Lippincott's Magazine" from 1870 till 1886. In the latter year he was appointed lecturer on European history at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published "History of Charles the Bold" (3 vols., Philadelphia and London, 1863-'8), and edited the complete works of William H. Prescott (1870-'4).--His second wife, Ellen Warner Olney, author, born in Southington, Connecticut, 6 November, 1842, is a daughter of Jesse Olney, the geographer. She is the author of "Love in Idleness" (Philadelphia, 1876); "Through Winding Ways" (1879); "A Lesson in Love" (1881); " A Midsummer Madness" (1884); " The Story of Margaret Kent," under the pen-name of "Henry Hayes" (1886); and "Sons and Daughters" (1887).